Moments after putting the finishing touches on its landmark $71.3-billion takeover of 21st Century Fox entertainment assets, Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday began the arduous process of combining two massive organizations.

“I wish I could tell you that the hardest part is behind us; that closing the deal was the finish line, rather than just the next milestone,” Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said in an email welcoming Fox employees into Disney. “What lies ahead is the challenging work of uniting our businesses to create a dynamic, global entertainment company with the content, the platforms, and the reach to deliver industry-defining experiences … for generations to come.”

Disney’s purchase of the Fox assets — a deal that had been in the works for a year and a half — took effect 9 p.m. Tuesday. On Wednesday, a handful of senior Fox executives trekked “over the hill” to Disney’s Burbank headquarters to report for their first day of duty. However, hundreds of others remained on Fox’s Century City lot. For many, the anticipation of the ownership change quickly melted into dread for their own futures.

More than 3,000 people, mostly at Fox, are expected to be squeezed out as Disney figures out which Fox employees it will bring aboard, according to people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to comment. Many of those jobs are in Los Angeles.

Disney has not disclosed a target for job cuts. However, the company has said that it expects “at least $2 billion in cost synergies by 2021 from operating efficiencies realized through the combination of businesses.” The bulk of those efficiencies will come through workforce reductions.

Under the deal, Disney acquired the 20th Century Fox film and television studios, cable channels FX and National Geographic, and a portfolio of international television properties, including Star India. Disney also assumed Fox’s 30% ownership interest in Hulu, giving Disney 60% of the streaming service. (Comcast Corp. owns 30% of Hulu; WarnerMedia holds 10%).

Rupert Murdoch and his family held onto Fox News Channel, the Fox broadcast network and Fox Sports, along with the 50-acre studio lot in Century City. The Murdoch family on Tuesday created a slimmed-down company called Fox Corp.

Because Disney is absorbing businesses much like its own, there are hundreds of duplicated positions in the movie and TV studios and cable channels, including in administration, sales and distribution. A small number of layoffs could begin this week, according to two informed people, but most of the cuts will not occur for weeks, or even months, as Disney works to consolidate the Fox businesses.

News of the deal prompted some humorous reactions from celebrities on social media. Actor Ryan Reynolds posted an image of his Deadpool character wearing Mickey Mouse ears. Al Jean, showrunner of the hit animated series “The Simpsons,” which will continue to air on Fox, tweeted an image of Homer Simpson strangling Mickey Mouse. “Thank you Fox and welcome Disney!” he wrote.

Disney took on about $36 billion in debt to finance the cash-and-stock transaction, according to analysts. That load ratcheted up Disney’s debt to a higher-than-usual level, said Tuna Amobi, media industry analyst at CFRA. “I would expect them to be working to bring down that leverage,” he said.

Disney had hoped to reap about $20 billion from the sale of Fox’s 22 regional sports channels, including Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West in Los Angeles. However, Disney has scaled back its expectations because a fierce bidding war over the sports channels failed to materialize.

Although Disney initially wanted to keep the regional networks, U.S. antitrust regulators denied that portion of the deal because Disney already owns ESPN. The government has given Disney 90 days to sell the sports channels, which Major League Baseball is interested in buying, according to people familiar with the auction.

Disney shares were virtually unchanged Wednesday, down 1 cent to $109.99. Fox's A shares closed down $1.72, or 4.3%, to $38.62.

Disney investors seem to be sitting on the sidelines until an April 11 investor day, when Iger and other top Disney executives are expected to unveil their strategy to turbocharge the company’s internet streaming business. Amobi said that investors, who have been concerned about ESPN subscriber losses, probably are waiting for details on the streaming service Disney+, including its price to consumers, before deciding whether to continue to hold the stock.

“Disney must show that it can overcome concerns about how ESPN will fare with cord-cutting,” Amobi said, noting that fears that the U.S. pay-TV market is shrinking has dampened enthusiasm for Disney stock the last three years.

The realities of cord-cutting was one of Iger’s motivations to buy Fox. Disney is galvanized to quickly ramp up a streaming business to compete with Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. And Disney needed more programming to stock its streaming services. Disney picked up the rights to such lucrative franchises as “Avatar,” “Ice Age,” “X-Men,” “Modern Family” and “The Simpsons” as part of the deal.

“It’s almost like an embarrassment of riches how much great content Disney now has,” Amobi said. “Disney already was the envy of most of their competitors.”

Disney plans to roll out a family-oriented streaming service called Disney+ later this year, joining a suite that includes the nearly year-old ESPN+ product and Hulu.

“We are rapidly transforming our company to take full advantage of evolving consumer trends and emerging technology in order to thrive in this new and exciting time,” Iger said.

But he acknowledged disruptions to the business.

“Having been on both sides of numerous acquisitions during my career, I have a deep appreciation for how this one impacts everyone involved, on both a personal and professional level,” Iger said in the email to employees. “I understand the challenges, and I ask for your continued patience in the days to come as we combine this collection of great assets to create the world’s premier entertainment company.”

]]>VH Fans Meeting Place (Non-Music)Number 47http://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64870-Disney-Fox-deal-fallout-Hollywood-braces-for-big-changesSupermoonhttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64869-Supermoon?goto=newpost
Wed, 20 Mar 2019 05:35:55 GMTSky-watchers in the Northern Hemisphere will get to see a cosmic triple play on March 20, 2019 as a...Sky-watchers in the Northern Hemisphere will get to see a cosmic triple play on March 20, 2019 as a “super worm moon” lights up the vernal equinox. According to astronomy website EarthSky.org, a full moon has not landed this close to the first day of spring since the year 2000, and the two celestial events won’t happen less than a day apart again until 2030.

Because the moon’s orbit is egg-shaped, there are times when it is at what astronomers call perigee, or its shortest distance from Earth, and times when it is at apogee, or its farthest distance from Earth. And because the size of the moon's orbit varies slightly with each lunar cycle, perigee is not always the same distance from month to month.

At 3:45 p.m. ET (19:45 UT) on March 19, 2019 the moon will be a mere 223,309 miles away from our planet, making for an especially close perigee.

Then, at 9:43 p.m. ET on March 20, 2019 (1:43 UT on March 21), the moon will officially reach its full phase. As a result of these combined events, the full lunar disk will appear 14 percent larger and 12 percent brighter than usual—a spectacle widely known as a supermoon.

The equinox supermoon will be the final one for 2019, which already saw supermoons fall on January 21 and February 19. But the year may have saved the best for last, given the coincidental timing with the March equinox at 5:58 p.m. ET (21:58 UT) on March 20—less than four hours before the supermoon arrives.
]]>VH Fans Meeting Place (Non-Music)The Roverhttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64869-SupermoonFelicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin, dozens arrested in college entrance cheating scamhttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64854-Felicity-Huffman-Lori-Loughlin-dozens-arrested-in-college-entrance-cheating-scam?goto=newpost
Tue, 12 Mar 2019 17:04:03 GMTOh this pisses me off. Their kids go to private schools and still cant get into the schools of...Oh this pisses me off. Their kids go to private schools and still cant get into the schools of their choice? Boo fucking hoo. There are worse things in life than attending your third choice college...AKA the one you EARNED a place in

Get a tutor if your kid needs help on the entrance exam Cheaper than the bribe....or the attorneys...or the bail

but the shit that Laughlin and her husband pulled is the lowest to me. This is actually taking places away from deserving kids

rich folks....sometimes I just hate em

and don't go blaming this on "Hollywood elites" either because they were just 2 of 48 arrested. This is CEO's and college coaches and admissions officers some of whom I betcha are card caring GOPers

https://www.thewrap.com/felicity-huf...cheating-scam/
]]>VH Fans Meeting Place (Non-Music)Daisy Hillhttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64854-Felicity-Huffman-Lori-Loughlin-dozens-arrested-in-college-entrance-cheating-scamHR Departmentshttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64851-HR-Departments?goto=newpost
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 23:18:17 GMTI work for a very large American corporation. Lots of structure, protocol etc etc. I have 3...I work for a very large American corporation. Lots of structure, protocol etc etc. I have 3 bosses, the guy at the top of the pile can be a huge cock. Extremely passive aggresive, veiled threats etc etc. I have taken it up until today. He called me at 7:00 this morning to smash me under his thumb. I did nothing wrong, I was following corp protocol but he kept coming at me. I let him say what he had to say then said FUCK IT!!! I pushed back HARD!! I dealt in facts!!

He started to back pedal so fucking fast!! Got off the phone with him and called my immediate boss. He said its bullshit and to call HR. Told him I wasnt comfortable with calling them, it will only bite me in the ass. He said then need to know whats going on, they are aware of his managment style. He asked me to write down legit issues and if I had more than 5 to call HR. I wrote 4 pages.

When I was calling Corp Headquarters to speak to HR I had to explain to much on phone and I think word may have gotten to Boss guy. When I got off the phone he called me to discuss out conversation. DAMAGE CONTROL MODE!!!
We spoke for 45 minutes, I didnt hold back.

HRlady called me right back and we scheduled a 2pm phone call. NO answer, straight to voice mail. Starting to think this was a really bad idea and I am going to get burned.

Ive heard mixed reviews of HR dept's. Anyone have any dealings with a HR rep in a situation like this? DO I need to work on my resume?
]]>VH Fans Meeting Place (Non-Music)OLOhttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64851-HR-DepartmentsTrains for Railfanshttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64849-Trains-for-Railfans?goto=newpost
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 21:55:17 GMTWhen you just need to chill... Steam trains operating today:
https://youtu.be/w1-c6O_xAK0When you just need to chill... Steam trains operating today:

]]>VH Fans Meeting Place (Non-Music)The Roverhttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64849-Trains-for-RailfansThe History of the World on Film: Home Movies, Promotional and Propaganda Filmshttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64835-The-History-of-the-World-on-Film-Home-Movies-Promotional-and-Propaganda-Films?goto=newpost
Tue, 26 Feb 2019 21:41:02 GMThttps://www.youtube.com/user/PeriscopeFilmhttps://www.youtube.com/user/PeriscopeFilm
]]>VH Fans Meeting Place (Non-Music)The Roverhttp://www.vhlinks.com/vbforums/threads/64835-The-History-of-the-World-on-Film-Home-Movies-Promotional-and-Propaganda-Films